The event, scheduled for Sept. 18-19 at Trinity Repertory Co., brings innovators and thinkers to Providence, giving them a forum to share their personal stories in an attempt to drive conversation and inspire creativity in the local business community.

Last year’s summit drew 420 participants from eight countries and 27 states, as well as more than 1,500 online viewers via the BIF-8 livestream.

This year, the Business Innovation Factory expects more than 500 attendees, including CEOs, marketing and communications specialists, photographers, entrepreneurs, university professors, creative strategists and others.

The 30 BIF-9 storytellers who will present at the summit represent a diverse range of ages, professional experience, career fields and educational backgrounds, from a clinical professor neurosurgery at Stanford University to a 17-year-old prosthetic robotocist still in high school.

Saul Kaplan, host of the BIF summit, founded the Business Innovation Factory in 2005 with a mission to enable collaborative innovation. The nonprofit aims to serve as a “real-world laboratory” for innovators to explore and test new business models.

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